Estate of Anna Nicole Smith loses to the Estate of E. Pierce Marshall on the merits in the Ninth Circuit: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued this ruling (very large PDF file) today.

Update: The Associated Press has an article headlined “Court: Anna Nicole Smith gets none of oil fortune.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Anna Nicole estate loses; Marshall family retains millions.”

Whether awake or asleep, felons shouldn’t possess guns, en banc Ninth Circuit rules: So holds a rare unanimous en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a ruling issued today.

As for why the case was taken en banc, the original three-judge panel had ruled by a 2-1 margin, in November 2008, that the defendant was entitled to a judgment of acquittal because he was found asleep but in possession of firearms.

My earlier coverage of the case appears in posts titled “Only in the Ninth Circuit?” (reporting on the original three-judge panel’s ruling) and “A real sleeper of a Ninth Circuit en banc case” (reporting on the order granting rehearing en banc).

“Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to Offer Remote Viewing of En Banc Hearings”: The Public Information Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued this news release earlier this week.

Addressing a question of first impression at the appellate level, the Seventh Circuit holds that the use of video-conferencing to conduct a supervised-release revocation hearing violates the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure: You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit at this link.

“Ex-dean to appeal verdict on affair”: The News & Record of Greensboro, North Carolina today contains an article that begins, “A woman facing a $9 million judgment for having an affair with a married man plans to appeal.”

“9th Circuit Judge Bucks Tide on Ashcroft’s Liability for Detention”: Dan Levine of The Recorder has this report.

“Virginia warns wife of Justice Clarence Thomas her group is violating law; State officials tell Virginia Thomas that her conservative advocacy group, Liberty Central Inc., must comply with a law that requires registration before seeking donations”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

“Deal Near on Gitmo, Trials for Detainees”: Jonathan Weisman and Evan Perez have this article today in The Wall Street Journal. You can freely access the full text of the article via Google News.

And in today’s edition of The Washington Post, columnist Michael Gerson has an op-ed entitled “Eric Holder, the attorney general of ineptness.” The newspaper also contains an op-ed by Benjamin Wittes and Jack L. Goldsmith entitled “The best trial option for KSM: Nothing.”